|
 |
Oh Crap!!!
I screwed up and now I have this pitch pocket in the worse
place possible! At first I figured I'd just clean out the pitchy goo with
chisel, but the damage ran too deep. Nothing to do now but let in a piece
of wood, kind of like inlay work. Its not so tough to do, it's just something
I hadn't planned on doing this afternoon!
|
 |
Since the pitch pocket runs at an angle to my
work piece, I need to remove more stock than I wanted. I determined I needed
a 3/8" straight cutting bit to cover the width of the repair. Next I need
to know how deep to make the repair, simply adjust the height of the bit
in your router table.
Finally I need to know how long to make the groove. Just
measure from the far side of the cutter and make a pencil line on your
table so you know you've gone far enough.
|
 |
Next set your fence so the bit will catch the
whole repair. I felt safer installing a feather board to keep the stock
tight to the fence. If the stock was to wander, the patch would have voids
in it.... not good!
|
 |
Now for the really hard part, start the router,
push the workpiece into the bit, and stop at the line. Don't try to back
up or lift the piece off, just shut off the router as soon as you reach
your line, this keeps the bit from heating up and burning the wood. Gee
that was tough, took longer to set up the router than to make the cut!
|
 |
Now I found this to be tricky, and a little nerve racking.
I need to make a plug to fit the slot we just made. I grabbed a matching
piece of wood, pine in theis case, about 15 inches long. The idea is to
keep my fingers far away from the blade. Its almost impossible to make
it fit perfectly the first time, so I intionally made it a little wider
than need be. Then i movved the fence a whisker, trimed the piece again
and tested the fit, then back to the saw, tap the fence just a bit, and
try again. I got it just right on the third try! |
 |
Next i rounded the end to match the router bit
that made our slot. Then just trim it down a bit and glue it in, if its
snug enough you don't even need to clamp it.
|
 |
Not too bad, the dark line is glue, not the best
job, but sence this project is getting painted, it isn't a big deal. If
this was a stain grade job, then i would of taken extra steps to match
the grain and make the radius perfect.
|
|
|
